Evangelizing | Christian Disciplines | 2 Corinthians 5:20

I. Introduction (Read 2 Corinthians 5:20)

A. There are few things in life as thrilling as explaining the gospel to someone. As a Christian, it’s one of the great privileges of living for Christ. And yet simply talking about witnessing can makes us nervous. Evangelism is both loved and feared, all at the same time. 

B. It is this fear that may drive Christians away from being more effective evangelists. Our commitment to sharing the good news of Jesus needs to outweigh our apprehensiveness, or we will never do it regularly. If we are not seriously intending to share the message, then we won’t share it at all. 

C. How can our commitment to evangelizing overcome the fears and worries we have attached to it? One way to do so may be to remember evangelism as a Christian discipline. That is how we will think about sharing the gospel in this lesson. 

D. Before we get into why we ought to evangelize, it may help to begin with defining our term. What is evangelism? 

In the New Testament, evangelism is not a specialty left for ministry ‘experts.’

It is not going from church to church, holding meetings.

It is not inviting someone to a worship service (though this can happen in an evangelistic conversation).

It is not simply giving someone a flyer (though this can be a step toward evangelism). 

II. What Is Evangelism? 

A. Evangelism is proclamation (content) with the hope of salvation (intent). 

Trying to persuade someone to be a Christian is not evangelism. If you simply urge someone to have repentance and faith but never announce the message, you have the right intent but no content. 

Also, telling someone the news without trying to persuade them is not evangelism, just a lecture about Christian beliefs. 

B. One author sums it up like this: evangelism is “teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade.

C. What is our message? The good news is that though man, created by God, has rebelled against God, God has become incarnate in Christ, bearing the guilt of our sin that separated us from God, and defeating the price of that separation by rising from the dead. 

D. How are we persuading? We explain this message to urge others to repent (turn their backs on that unbelief that separates them from God) and believe (begin trusting in Jesus’ work to restore them to God). 

Evangelism happens when ordinary Christians preaching sermons, sitting across tables, speaking on the phone, or writing letters tell others in a variety of ways “This is what God has done in Jesus, won’t you follow him?”

III. Evangelism Is Expected

That’s what evangelism is. So who is supposed to be doing this? The same people God calls to grow in godliness by Bible intake and prayer - all of us. 

A. Matthew 28:18-19, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…”

B. Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” 

C. Luke 24:45-47, “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

D. For Jesus, the expectation to share the gospel was never a unique or special one given to just a select few of his followers - it characterized all of them. Every follower of Jesus is called to share the message about Jesus. 

E. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Here, Paul wants his readers to know that his defense of his apostleship was not to make much of himself. His ministry exists to point to Jesus Christ. In this great gospel text - is there any better condensed gospel verse than 5:21? - Paul shows that participation in God’s reconciliation gives a person the word of reconciliation. To be saved by God is to be an ambassador for God. Read 2 Corinthians 5:12-21.

F. Peter also shows us the connection between being made God’s people and being made his messengers. 

We are familiar with the first part of 1 Peter 2:9 - “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;”

But do you remember how the verse ends? “that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

Why did God make us his people? He did this so we would “speak of all he is and has done.”

If you are saved, evangelism is not just incidental to you being a Christian: you were saved to share the Gospel. It i  s not a nice thing you can choose to do - it is your calling.

IV. Evangelism Is Empowered 

If it is so obvious Christians are supposed to evangelize, why do we so often fail? Why doesn’t our sense of responsibility outweigh our fear? 

You might not evangelize because you don’t know a formula. If you imagine evangelism as a specific presentation you have to say perfectly, you may never feel confident enough to share it. But evangelism is not a memorized set of slogans. Jesus used all kinds of methods when he introduced people to the message about himself. Sometimes he quoted the Old Testament, sometimes he paraphrased, and sometimes he didn’t refer to it. Paul also used various approaches. There is no set formula to memorize, just conversations to engage in.

You may not evangelize because you are afraid of questions. If evangelism was the call to answer any and every question that may come up in evangelistic conversations, then this would be a good reason to avoid it. But we are not called to have all the answers: we are called to announce the risen Christ.

You may not evangelize because you are afraid of rejection. If the goal of evangelism is to make us loved, appreciated, and well-spoken of then this too would be a valid reason to back out. But sharing the good news is incompatible with self-promotion. Jesus didn’t promise following him meant increased likability - quite the opposite. When this is our excuse for not sharing the gospel, “We protect our pride at the cost of their souls. In the name of not wanting to look weird, we are complicit in their being lost.”

You may not evangelize because you are unimpressed with your own testimony. If evangelism meant telling people about ourselves, then an unremarkable testimony would surely be a disqualifier. Yes, we are called to share the story - but the story is not about us, it’s about Jesus.

All of these fears have one thing in common: they focus on the messenger to the exclusion of the message. We get fearful about our evangelism when we locate its power in the wrong source: our talent, success, intelligence or experience. None of those things empowers our evangelism. 

Paul wasn’t afraid to share the gospel. But why? Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believeth.”

If you articulate the gospel the power is already part of the package. The Holy Spirit empowers the message to effect change in the hearers (Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-5). 

V. Evangelism Is a Discipline 

God expects us to evangelize, and empowers our evangelizing. That means all of are supposed to, and all of us can. All that stands in the way is our discipline (or lack thereof). 

A. Do you remember that discipline without direction is drudgery? Our holy habits, our Christian practices are not simply things we do for the sake of getting them done: they grow us into godliness, they transform us into Christlikeness. 

B. Jesus Christ, the one we follow, whose way we walk, whose pattern we build our lives around, was the ultimate example of one who shares the good news. 

It was Jesus who sought out the Samaritan woman to tell her the water of life was hers. 

It was Jesus who gave the harsh words to the rich young ruler to awaken him to his sin. 

Jesus who showed Nicodemus that his life could not please God, that he needed a new birth. 

Jesus who showed Zaccheaus that no one is beyond saving. 

C. We will grow to be more like Jesus when sharing the message about him increasingly becomes the habit of our lives. Like prayer and Bible intake, evangelizing only happens if we plan to do it.

Conclusion

Because evangelism is expected, will you obey the Lord and witness?

Because evangelism is empowered, will you stop looking at it in terms of yourself and trust God to use your words to work in others?

Because evangelism is a discipline, will you plan for it?